September 17, 1979: Rickey Henderson hits first major-league home run

Much of what made Rickey Henderson great on the ballfield was apparent from the start. He made his debut in the Oakland Athletics’ green and gold at 20 years old in June of 1979, got into his patented crouch, and doubled in his first at-bat. His first stolen base came two innings later.

Henderson immediately laid claim to Oakland’s leadoff spot; he didn’t bat anywhere else in the lineup during his first three seasons.1 He ran with abandon: 33 steals in his debut half-season, a league-leading 100 on the 1980 “Billy Ball” A’s (his first of 10 All-Star seasons), and a record 130 in 1982, when he also led the league in walks for the first time. He led the league in runs and hits in 1981. By the end of his 25-season career, he was baseball’s all-time leader in runs scored (2,295), stolen bases (1,406), and walks (2,190).2

The power component of Henderson’s unique blend of power and speed, however, took time to develop.

Henderson’s double in his June 24 debut was his only extra-base hit in his first 26 games. He didn’t hit a home run in his first 345 big-league plate appearances and his .675 slugging percentage in 1979 was a career low for over two decades.

The Athletics returned to Oakland on September 17 for their final homestand of 1979. Their record stood at 52-98, almost 30 games behind the American League West Division-leading California Angels and 11 games behind the sixth-place Seattle Mariners, with 12 games to play. One more loss would set an Oakland franchise record for futility.3

Local fans had voted with their feet. Incensed by owner Charlie Finley’s years-long purge of the roster and threats to move the team, apathetic from years of losing, just 306,763 paying fans came to A’s games in 1979. Finley himself did not attend a single game and sold the team to local investors the next season.4

The Monday night series opener in front of 2,636 fans was against the 74-76 Texas Rangers, 7½ games behind the Angels and still technically in the hunt.

Oakland manager Jim Marshall called on 19-year-old right-hander Mike Morgan, who had gone straight from his Las Vegas high school to Oakland’s rotation the previous summer for three winless starts.5 Since his recall in June of 1979, Morgan was 2-8 with a 5.59 ERA. Opposing Morgan and pitching on three days’ rest, in his sophomore season, was right-hander Steve Comer, 15-10 with a 3.71 ERA. Comer hadn’t faced Oakland since June 22, two days before Henderson’s major-league debut.

Perhaps indicating the league’s view of the importance of this series of also-rans, Jim Evans was removed from the umpiring crew at the last minute to cover an illness in Kansas City for a critical series between the second-place Royals and the first-place California Angels. The A’s and Rangers would make do with a three-man crew.6

Texas started hot when Mickey Rivers and Bump Wills led off with back-to-back singles and moved to second and third on Al Oliver’s groundout. Buddy Bell, the Rangers’ leader in RBIs, knocked in both runners with a single.7 Morgan escaped the jam when Richie Zisk hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

Henderson led off for Oakland, wearing number 35, and ambushed Comer’s first pitch deep into the left-field stands for his first major-league home run.8

Rookie Pat Putnam led off Texas’s second inning with a home run, his 18th, and Jim Sundberg singled, moved to second on a sacrifice, and to third on a fly out. When Morgan walked Wills, Marshall went to his bullpen, calling on rookie left-handed swingman Craig Minetto. Oliver walked to load the bases, but Bell hit into a force at second to strand all three and keep it a 3-1 game.

Comer set Oakland down in order in the second inning and then gave up a one-out single to Henderson in the third. Rangers catcher Sundberg, tops in the AL at throwing out baserunners in the past three seasons, had been victimized by Henderson’s first big-league stolen base back in June. He got him this time, shortstop Nelson Norman applying the tag on Henderson.

Both teams went quietly in the fourth before Texas rallied for two in the fifth. Wills reached on an error by Oakland third baseman Jeff Newman and came around to score on Oliver’s double. After Putnam singled Oliver home, Marshall went back to his bullpen, summoning Mike Norris, who got Sundberg to line out to end the inning.

Texas scored again in the sixth when Norman doubled, went to third on a groundout, then scored on a fly ball by Wills.

Trailing 6-1, Henderson singled to start the sixth inning, giving him Oakland’s only three hits against Comer. He went to second on a groundout and scored on a double by Dave Revering.

Norris kept Texas off the board over the final three innings. Comer, whose shoulder was stiffening, gave way to relief ace Jim Kern in the seventh inning.9 Kern finally figured out Henderson, inducing a comebacker to end the seventh.

“After [Henderson] got the first three hits, the dugout was calling him the franchise when he went up again,” Marshall said after the game.10

Trailing 6-2, Oakland threatened in the bottom of the ninth, but Murphy grounded out with two aboard to end the game.

Morgan’s record dropped to 2-9. He lost again on September 29, Oakland’s 108th loss of 1979. Morgan’s teenage stint in Oakland marked the beginning of a well-traveled 22-year career through 12 franchises, culminating with a World Series ring with the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks. Texas came up short in the AL West, finishing in third place, five games behind the Angels.

Henderson’s leadoff home run was his only homer of 1979. His third career homer, on June 19, 1980, in Baltimore, was also a leadoff shot. Three of his six home runs in 1981 led off games, and they just kept coming.

His power blossomed when he was traded to the New York Yankees in 1985. He set a career high with 28 home runs and 9 leadoff homers in 1986, including two in Seattle against Mike Morgan. His first home run 1989 was his 36th leadoff home run, passing Bobby Bonds for the record.11

On July 5, 1993, in Henderson’s second stint with Oakland, he led off both games of a doubleheader against the Cleveland Indians with home runs.12 In 1996, as a San Diego Padre, he hit his first National league leadoff home run, again off Morgan, then with the St. Louis Cardinals.13 In May of 2000, in his first week as a Seattle Mariner, he struck the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for three leadoff homers in a week, including twice against Steve Trachsel.

Henderson hit at least one leadoff home run in every season of his career. On July 20, 2003, a 44-year-old Henderson led off for the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine and hit his 297th and final home run in front of 46,110 fans.14 It was a leadoff home run, the 81st of his career.

Acknowledgements

This story was fact-checked by Victoria Monte and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author relied upon Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for player, team, and season information.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/OAK/OAK197909170.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1979/B09170OAK1979.htm

Photo credit: Rickey Henderson, Trading Card Database.

Notes

1 Henderson batted 13,122 times in the leadoff position in his career. He didn’t top 100 plate appearances in any other position.

2 Barry Bonds eclipsed Henderson’s record when he drew walk number 2,191 on July 4, 2004. Bonds retired after the 2007 season with a record 2,558 walks. Henderson ranked second all-time through the 2024 season.

3 The 1977 Athletics lost 98 games. The 1979 Athletics topped this mark by 10, finishing 54-108. This stood as the Oakland franchise record for 44 years until the 2023 Athletics finished 50-112. Only one season in Athletics franchise history was worse – Connie Mack’s 1916 Philadelphia Athletics went 36-117-1, a full 40 games out of seventh place in an eight-team league. The Athletics also spent 13 seasons in Kansas City without a winning record. Their worst mark was in 1964, when they went 57-105.

4 Tom Weir, “A’s Wonder Over Finley’s Lack of Interest,” The Sporting News, October 6, 1979: 28; Tom Weir, “Finley Sells A’s to 3 Local Executives,” Oakland Tribune, August 24, 1980: C-1.

5 Tom Weir, “Morgan Set for A’s Encore,” Oakland Tribune, June 27, 1979: B-69.

6 Steve Pate, “Rangers (6-3) Care, Even if Umps Don’t,” Dallas Morning News, September 18, 1979: B1.

7 Jim Reeves, “Comer Salvaging Personal Ambitions,” Fort Worth Star-Telegram, September 19, 1979: 3C. Buddy Bell drove in 101 runs in 1979, 37 more than any other Ranger. It was the only time in his career he topped 100 RBIs.

8 “Hard-Hitting Buddy Bell Cleans Up on Oakland A’s,” Santa Cruz (California) Sentinel, September 18, 1979: 13.

9 Jim Reeves, “Comer Salvaging Personal Ambitions.”

10 Tom Weir, “Texas Slaps Its Winning Brand on the A’s,” Oakland Tribune, September 18, 1979: C-2.

11 Phil Pepe, “Kelly’s Two-Run Double Lifts Hawkins, Yankees,” New York Daily News, April 29, 1989: 30. Herm Krabbenhoft, “A Chronology of the Best Leadoff Home Run Hitters,” Baseball Research Journal, Vol. 33 (2004), https://sabr.org/journal/article/a-chronology-of-the-best-leadoff-home-run-hitters/.

12 John Hickey, “Rickey Rips, but A’s Split,” Oakland Tribune, July 6, 1993: D-1.

13 Henderson had the most career leadoff home runs against Morgan and Frank Tanana, three apiece. His 11 total home runs against Tanana were his most against any pitcher. The three leadoff home runs against Morgan were his only three.

14 Joe Strauss, “Redbirds Overpower Dodgers in Homer Fest,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 21, 2003: D-1.